Yahoo Shareholder Meeting Focuses On Mobile

Following a few truly bizarre moments that included one shareholder saying to Marissa Mayer, “I’m Greek and I’m a dirty old man, and you look attractive.” Another shareholder asked her who she would cheer for when the Green Bay Packers face the San Francisco 49ers in the upcoming NFL season and a few Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) employees blasted her for her position on the retailer’s board of directors.

Ms. Mayer, for the most part did quite well with these people before moving on to more pressing matters. She simply ignored the pervert following his remarks about her appearance and question about a dividend, explained that as a Wisconsin native she would be rooting for the Packers, and shifted the focus away from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT).

In between these moments, Ms. Mayer stressed Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s ongoing efforts to improve in the mobile market. “We’re focused on making the world’s daily habits inspiring and entertaining,” Mayer said.

Yahoo’s New Mobile Weather App

Mayer also reiterated that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) will continue to put mobile first as the company continues to move forward under her guidance. She showed off Yahoo’s new mobile weather app, which looked quite a bit like what is expected from Apple’s new iOS. She also pointed out that since the relaunch of Flickr photo uploads have increased four-fold, the mobile app is enjoying regular gains itself.

“It’s clear Flickr is becoming a platform of choice for photos,” Mayer said.

This stands in stark contrast to suggestions that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) had killed its acquisition and given its spelling also drew questions about what would happen to another Yahoo acquisition with strange spelling, Tumblr.

Yahoo Focused On Mobile Growth

While Yahoo is clearly focused on mobile growth, since the relaunch of Yahoo’s homepage, Mayer revealed that user interactions with the home page have increased by 25 percent. Clearly more use means the potential for more advertising revenue.

Ms. Mayer’s question and answer session was certainly what most shareholders were looking forward to in today’s meeting, but shareholders also had some voting to do and other business to attend to today.

Shareholders also approved several proposed items, including the approval of 10 nominees for the board of directors, executive compensation and the appointment for PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company’s registered public accounting firm.

There were also measures that were not accepted by the shareholders in a vote today: a call for Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) to begin publishing an annual Corporate Social Responsibility report that focuses on human rights and a proposal that would require the company to file a report disclosing political contributions.